A Game of Cat and Mouse
by JokertheMatrix
Summary: Devil and Angel AU. One-shot. Tell me, who do you think is the one to be feared in this game of cat and mouse: the cat, or the mouse? Partner fic to "The Hunter and His Prey". Rated T for swearing and violence among other things


_Before you read, keep in mind that this is in no way a Valentine's Day fic. Other than being uploaded on V-day, it has nothing to do with the day in general, but happy V-day anyhow. _

_At any rate, this is the partner fic of "The Hunter and His Prey" and features Alfred's side of the story (I suggest you read both for full understanding). I hope you enjoy!_

_P.S. Anything I reference or used for inspiration does not belong to me. Same goes for Hetalia and its characters._

* * *

Alfred flew a steady pace as he traveled along the city, taking in every sight as much as he could. The city was alive in the daytime light, with the roads brimming with cars, the sidewalks with people. He didn't know where he was (some silly human name, he assumed), but he didn't care. He was away from _there_, and that was all that mattered to him.

_Why must humans scurry about that way? _He thought as he watched the crowds of humans bustle away to wherever their destination was, some looking like they were going collapse any second now. _Pity they don't have wings; everything would be _much _easier for them if they could fly…_

He snickered at the thought of humans having wings. _If humans had wings, who knows how many ways they could abuse that power? Oh, if only it could be so..._ Alfred made a mental note to himself saying that when he grew up, he would figure out a way to give humans wings. _That would certainly stave off our boredom for quite a few centuries, wouldn't it? Better start asking the incubi and succubae…_

He flew a good number of feet above the crowd, the sun beating its harsh rays on his back. _Ugh, it's too hot…_ Alfred paused to fan himself lightly with his tail, his wings flapping towards him. _It doesn't help that I'm wearing these ridiculous clothes._ Alfred wasn't allowed to choose what he could wear, so he was forced to wear the clothes others had given him: today he was given a navy blue vest with golden buttons with a white short-sleeved shirt to wear under it, dark blue shorts and dress shoes finishing the look. In his opinion, he looked like one of those obedient little schoolboys, and it sickened him to think that he was comparing himself with a mere schoolboy. Even though Alfred was the age of one (around thirteen in human years), he rather not compare himself to the likes of them.

_How do humans handle this heat? _Alfred saw that some adults were actually wearing sharp suits and tuxedos, and he knew from experience that those weren't the type of clothes one should wear in a day such as this. _Honestly, these humans are so strange… But for the better, no? It would be much too boring to play with something that's normal…_

He idly followed a group of humans until he somehow ended up at a park. All around him humans went about with their meaningless activities such as jogging or having picnics, looking distastefully pleasant. _Ugh, where's a devil or two when you need them… _Alfred thought when he passed by a little girl eating a lollipop happily.

His eyes zeroed in on a quaint light blue baby carriage near a park bench at the side of a dirt path. He watched as the baby's mother stood up, presumably heading for the water fountain nearby, but Alfred didn't care about that. What mattered was that the baby was now alone. _Why hello there…_

He flew over to the little baby, which he discovered was a male. _Did I look like that when I was younger?_ He scowled, trying to imagine himself as the delicate bundle of flesh he was looking at now. The very idea of him being that weak at one point of his life sickened him.

"How pathetic," he sneered as he started to circle around the baby. "Where's your mother, little one? It seems like she ran off. Are you sad?"

The baby (curse the little tykes) turned to him, eyes wide as he stared back at him. Infants, who were not yet subject to the limitations humans willfully placed on themselves (some foolish notion called "the difference between fantasy and reality"), could see Alfred's kind clearly as well as other fantastic creatures such as him. It was quite funny really; some of those infants would retain their ability to see creatures such as Alfred and would try to spread the truth, only to be laughed at by their peers whose minds were (not so sadly) clouded with false truths of 'normal'. Those times were glorious according to what Alfred had heard from the other devils, and really lifted up one's spirits to see those kinds of people be shunned and marked as madmen. He didn't see what was so fun about that though; he much preferred toys that were lively.

"What, not going to say anything?" Alfred taunted. Babies would talk to their kind all the time, although their parents and other such people immediately pegged it as 'gibberish' or 'baby talk'. Adults would proceed to teach them their language until the babies forgot how to communicate with magical beings, filling them with other lies as well. How ignorant they were, Alfred thought.

"Maybe you're silent as a sign of respect." He laughed scornfully as the baby continued to stare at him. "You humans are all so weird… If only I had visited the human world sooner than this; after all, who knew that you mortals would turn out to be so interesting?" He looked at the baby with sudden boredom. "How dull, no reaction from you. That's even worse than what I normally get." An idea formed in his head. "Maybe this will change your mind…"

Alfred snapped his fingers. Immediately, the baby started to cry, unintelligible sounds coming out from its mouth as it flailed around. Alfred giggled. "More, more!" He kept snapping his fingers, his magic attacking the baby with each snap. "More, more!"

He continued to do this for a while longer; by the time he was done, he was practically shrieking with laughter. _Why didn't I run away sooner?_ He asked himself as he clutched his stomach, trying to breathe. _I didn't know that messing with humans was this much fun!_

"So this is what my brethren do all day!" He wiped the tears off his eyes as he inspected his handiwork. By now the baby was bawling its eyes out, attracting the eyes of bystanders who were no doubt wondering where its parents were. Not that Alfred cared; the baby's suffering was music to his ears. He couldn't wait to create more chaos when he grew up. "To think, that I must spend all of my time cooped up in my world until I'm 'ready' or some other crap like that… Really, if there's any greater misfortune a devil could perform, it would be keeping me away from all the fun!"

He started to circle around the baby once more. "Ah, what else can I do to you? That was probably the simplest thing I could perform, and I would very much like to see what my limits are at this age…"

Alfred tried to recall his training. _It seems that all those days of tiresome training will finally pay off_… He closed his eyes to concentrate. Almost as soon as his eyes were closed, Alfred could sense his magic enveloping the carriage, preparing to do whatever his will was. _Let's try something easy first… I'd rather not break my toy before properly playing with it…_

Slowly he exerted his mental force on lifting the baby carriage up. The baby started to wail harder the higher it went. Soon it was a couple of feet high, enough for Alfred to do what he wanted. _Let's see if I can flip it over… _He concentrated even harder as the carriage gradually rotated towards the ground. The baby's wails intensified, as if it unconsciously knew that it was in danger. _Almost there… _The open part of the baby carriage was almost facing the ground until-

Something slammed against his side, causing Alfred to lose his concentration. He and whatever had pushed him over started to fall, Alfred's wings unable to react fast enough to keep him in the air. _How troublesome, _he seethed to himself.

He twisted so that he could flap his wings and ended up hovering a few inches off the ground, barely managing to avoid landing on the undoubtedly hard surface of the grass. When he turned back to the baby, he was annoyed to see that its mother had appeared and was comforting the baby, apologizing to it for leaving to go get a drink of water.

"Damn it all!" Alfred swore as he watched his magic slowly leave the child. "The only fun I manage to have in who-knows-how-long and it just _has_ to get ruined!" He turned to whichever or whoever had hit him. "I don't care _what_ species you are, but don't you think that's overstepping your boundaries a litt-?"

He froze. Lying on the ground near him was a boy around Alfred's age. He had a slim build and creamy pale skin like that of a baby's. He was covered with a toga that was scarcely long enough to cover his privates, the material slung over his left shoulder and exposed the other. Brown laced-up sandals covered his slender legs, the material laced up all the way to his knees. Blonde hair the color of gold framed his cherubic face, pristine white wings folded behind his back as he lay there on the ground, temporarily paralyzed from the impact of hitting the ground. _An angel, eh…_ Alfred licked his lips. _And an attractive one at that…_

This was going to be fun.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Alfred flew over to the recovering angel, his annoyance replaced with that of intense interest. By now the child angel had managed to prop himself up from the ground using his elbows as support. His emerald eyes- which were hidden under abnormally thick eyebrows, interestingly enough- were wide as Alfred hovered over him, his face mere inches away from his. "And here I thought that angels were supposed to be the good guys… Aren't you guys prohibited from coming to the human world until you're 'properly aged' or something?"

"S-same goes f-for you!" Alfred smiled at the angel's attempt to sound bold. Normally, the devils back at home would just order him to go do something or cower under him, so it came as a nice surprise for him to see that the angel had the audacity to talk back to him. "E-even your kind has r-rules about going to the h-human world!"

"Ah, but I'm a devil, remember? I don't need to follow rules." Lies, but hey, he was a devil. It was in their blood to lie and disregard rules. "But when all is said and done, it really doesn't change the fact that you ruined my fun." Alfred relished the way the angel flinched as he spoke. "Oh? Are you nervous? Don't be, it's only a _little_ punishment."

"I-I…" The angel abruptly pushed Alfred away. He was now face-to-face with him, although Alfred was amused to see that he was ever-so-slightly taller than the other. "I'm not afraid of you, you… you…"

"Troublemaker? Hellion? Impudent little imp?" Alfred offered, grinning as he did so. "And here I was led to believe that it were the _devils_ who are supposed to be the stupid ones…"

The angel flared a lovely shade of red. "You shut it! I don't need to be around the likes of you!" With a huff, the angel spun off and flew away, his fast speed betraying the fear he had been poorly hiding.

_Oh? The little angel wants to run away now, now does he? _Alfred suppressed a laugh as he chased after the other. _Not on my watch._

"Oh no." The angel stopped as Alfred flew in front of him. "Leaving so soon?" Alfred chuckled. "You're not getting away from me _that _easily. After all, where's the entertainment in that?"

"What entertainment?" The angel backed away. "_Your_ idea of 'entertainment' is tormenting an innocent little baby."

"What's yours then? Reading to the elderly? Giving lollipops to children? Spreading joy to the world? Oh please." Alfred flew in closer and lifted the other's chin up with the tip of his tail, forcing the other to meet his eyes. "That's rather boring isn't it? You can't honestly believe that that's _fun_, do you? What a load of crap." The angel winced slightly at his choice of words. "I'd much prefer tormenting humans than any of those options any day now. Actually, anything _you _wouldn't like to do would be my idea of entertainment." Alfred smiled devilishly. "There needs to be a dark side to everything and that's our job, so really, why do you expect me to be the saint I'm clearly not?"

"That's the problem with you fiends." Alfred was delighted to hear the disgust in the angel's voice as he smacked Alfred's tail away. _How bold this angel is! _ He thought as he watched a little burn mark be left where Alfred's tail had touched the bottom of his chin. Sadly though, the mark vanished immediately afterwards. "You think you're all so smart, when really, you're all just sorry manifestations of evil with nothing better to do than ruining the lives of innocents."

"That would make you guys sorry manifestations of good with nothing better to do than bettering the lives of innocents, right?" The angel scowled as Alfred beamed. "Sorry sweetheart, but you're going to have to try harder than that to put a dent in my armor."

The angel crinkled his nose at the little term of affection. "I'd rather not have you devils act so familiarly with me."

"Oh? You're so high and mighty now. How sad." Alfred put on a mock frown. "Tell me, what happened to the stuttering fool from a while ago? I miss him actually." He ruffled the other's hair and was thrilled when the other batted his hand away violently. "Such a cute little angel like you should act more submissive. After all, you _are _younger than me."

"You're the same age as me!"

"We have no way of proving that, do we?" Alfred wagged a finger. _He'll do, _he thought. _He'll do quite nicely. _After all, if he was going to do _that_, it might as well be the only person who could stand up to him. "But I fear we have strayed away from our _original_ topic."

Without warning, Alfred wrapped an arm around the angel's waist and brought the other closer to him. "H-hey!" Alfred tightened his grip on the other as he tried to break free. "Let me go!"

"I still need to punish you for ruining my fun, don't I?"

"I said, let me go!" The angel kept fighting Alfred's grip until he managed to set himself free, backing away as far as he could once he was free. "I don't need to be 'punished' for doing what's right!"

"Ah, but what's right for you is wrong for us, so really, you performed a wrongdoing by my standards." Alfred inched closer with each word. The angel kept backing away.

"Stay back!" The angel started to beat his wings desperately as he tried to flee. "I swear, I'll-"

Nothing could prepare the angel as Alfred flew to him in a burst of incredible speed. Alfred grabbed his face, cupping it with both hands to prevent him from escaping. Before the angel could react, Alfred pulled the other in for a kiss.

A jolt ran through his body the moment their lips touched. The emotions that coursed through his body at the kiss were unimaginable. Even though it was sloppy and inexperienced, Alfred found that he didn't want to pull away. Every one of his senses was on fire, as if each one was being ignited with fireworks. Pleasure filled every corner of Alfred's body, and all he could think about was how he wanted more. It was as if he was eating his very own forbidden fruit right at this very second.

It was intoxicating, and Alfred couldn't get enough of it.

Soon another jolt went through his body, although this one felt as if he was being dumped in ice water. The jolt caused him to break away from the other as his senses screamed danger. _Shit._ Alfred's nerves were on edge. _They actually sent _him _to find me? …Man, they must be pissed. More importantly though…_

He turned towards the angel, whose face was filled with a horror like no other. The angel touched his lips, no doubt trying to figure out what had just transpired. "What… what…" Despite every nerve in Alfred's body telling him to get away, he savored the repulsed look on the angel's blushing face as he realized what Alfred had just done. "What…"

"If only I could stay." The angel's eyes focused on Alfred sharply as he sighed wistfully. "Unfortunately for us, unwanted company seems to be on its way here as we speak. Pity, since that means I can't play with you anymore today."

"Wha… You…" The dark blush on the angel's face was replaced with the red of rage. "You... you... you filthy incubus, you marked me!" The angel seethed. "You'll pay for this!"

"Please, if I was _really_ an incubus, then what makes you think I'd let you off with _just_ a kiss?" Alfred chuckled. Really, his angel was so impertinent! It definitely made for a good change of pace. "As for marking you, I'm glad to see that you're aware of the gravity of what I had just done. While incubi, succubae, and lesser demons can kiss normally, for a devil to do so would be marking the other and thus permanently claiming whoever was marked. Honestly, I don't see how you didn't see this coming; you're quite alluring you know, so how could I resist?" He narrowed his eyes at the other. "But let's test the strength of your words, shall we?"

Alfred flew in close and gripped the other's chin as he brought his face closer to his. The angel's brilliant green eyes were darkened to the point where it was almost black; it made Alfred giddy being this close to such pure and raw hatred.

"Find me little angel," Alfred sneered. "Let's see if your pitiful pledge for vengeance has been heard."

Alfred took off, basking in the sheer loathe that emitted from the angel in waves. Something told him that the other wouldn't forget him anytime soon. _I'll be in so much trouble when they catch me, _he thought as he flew. _Oh well, it was worth it. _He licked his lips, remembering the addictive taste of his little angel and how his angel treated him like the devil he was.

This was _definitely_ going to be fun.

_Years later…_

Alfred flew out of the portal, the mass disappearing once he was out. He curled his lip in slight disgust as he looked down at his destination. He was at a small town in some unknown place. The buildings in the town were mostly houses or apartments and trees could be found practically everywhere. Cars traveled in and out of the road, but there was hardly any active traffic. Every now and then you could see some people walking or jogging or biking around, but most seemed to have opted out to stay at their homes. The day was pleasant and cool, clouds rolling in the sky and the sun shining down with gentle rays.

In short, it was a horrible day.

_Calm down Alfred._ Alfred thought as he swooped down lower. _Keep your eye on your goal; as much as you want to have fun, do it _after_ you've finished your mission._

He paused as he hovered over a sidewalk, his bat-like wings keeping him up. He flicked his tail from side-to-side as he looked around the quiet neighborhood, trying to find who he was looking for. _Just where could they be?_

His mind went back to the time he was assigned his mission. Devil activity had been on the rise lately as Alfred and his kin decided to orchestrate series after series of calamities, both great and small, to celebrate the rise of a new devil lord. However, their actions had caused the angels to be on the lookout for them, so it made it harder for the devils to do their work. Not only that, but the angels were taking out more of his kind were faster than normal. Alfred had been tipped by his brother that the higher angel that had done away with most of his brethren had been hanging around this town for a while, so he had "volunteered" for the job to eradicate him. "Volunteer" as in "nobody's getting this job but me".

Unfortunately, he had been so excited to go on the mission that he forgot to ask his brother for the finer details, the "finer details" being where _exactly _the higher angel had been spotted.

_No matter. First angel I see and I'll just interrogate it until it tells me where the higher angel is at. _ Alfred thought. He didn't care if the higher angel was killing his kind off one by one, but what he did care about was if it was _his _angel who was killing them off.

He adjusted his glasses. He was in no way near-sighted, but his brethren had enforced the glasses on him as a power limiter. After all, it would be _terrible_ if Alfred wiped out all of humanity on accident (not that they cared for the humans; long ago, the angels had forced the devils to abide by some rules they gave them, so the devils were forced to respect the balance of forces. Alfred still didn't see why they had to limit his powers though; he wasn't stupid enough to break all of his toys in one go). It used to be mandatory for Alfred to wear his glasses all the time, but as he grew older, he learned to control his powers more effectively. Now he only wore the glasses because he had grown fond of them and because it irritated his superiors for him to contain his powers like this.

Not that he cared though what they wanted his powers to be unleashed for; he was saving his powers for a specific angel.

Years had passed since Alfred had last seen him, although it was rather short by devil and angel standards. Nevertheless, he had gotten impatient waiting for his angel to find him and had decided long ago to look for his angel instead. For years Alfred had been on the lookout for his angel, participating in every campaign against their kind in the hopes of finding him. He had bested more angels than he could bother to count, none of them the one he wanted to find.

_Just where are you?_ He thought as he recalled the moment they met. While everyone had crumbled under him instantly, his angel was the only one who refused to fall beneath him. He was the first to treat Alfred the way he _should _be treated as and he loved it. There was no way that he was going to lose his little angel.

Since their last encounter, Alfred had grown from the child devil he was then to a respectable one now. His wings were now larger and longer, and the horns on the side of his head had grown as well. He was tall for his age too, towering over most devils. His sense of style had also changed, seeing as he had managed to "talk" (see "force") his way to being able to pick his own clothes: today, he wore his favorite smoky gray bomber jacket with black fur lining on the collar over a black shirt and dark trousers and combat boots. As for weapons, he chose to bring along two small daggers made of a dark iron, believing that it would be enough for whatever he had to handle. After all, it didn't take much to break an angel.

_I don't care if I have to do away with every angel in existence… _Alfred thought as he flew away. _I _will _find you my little angel. _Hopefully, the higher angel he was supposed to find would turn out to be his angel… that is to say, if Lady Luck was smiling upon him.

He didn't notice when he had stumbled upon a park. The park was right next to the road and consisted of small hills and dirt paths with a few benches at its side. Scraggy trees were scattered around the park along with taller and thicker ones, although it didn't do much to beautify the place. A playground was at Alfred's far right, a picnic area right next to it. Families and children were scattered all around the area, some playing volleyball at the hills while others were playing at the playground or were eating at the picnic area.

_Ugh, too much happiness…_ Alfred scowled as he flew past the family playing volleyball. _There's_ _bound_ _to be an angel around here somewhere…_ He suddenly smiled. _If that higher angel isn't _my _angel, at least I'll have plenty of toys to take my anger on._

He flew over the playground. At the corner of his eyes, he saw an unnatural color of white amidst the earthy browns and blacks of the playground structures. He paused and hovered in the sky to take a better look at the angel, who was helping a small boy swing higher on the swings while keeping the child safe.

Although Alfred could only see the angel's back, there was no mistaking that he was the higher angel Alfred had been sent to find. The toga the angel wore was that of the higher angels: while normal angels wore a toga that exposed part of the chest, higher angels wore a toga that covered the chest entirely and also had their togas lined with gold. A brown belt was wrapped around the angel's waist, although it seemed that this angel hadn't brought the wand that most angels used and kept strapped on to the belt. Instead, the angel had a bow slung across his back, which Alfred knew could separate to form two curved daggers (he thought it was incredibly stupid of the angels to make a bow out of daggers, but to each his own; it wasn't like it was useful against devils anyways). Two arm guards were on either side of the higher angel's arm, although if this was because the angel was ambidextrous or it was his style, Alfred didn't know.

Alfred crept up behind the angel and slung his arms around him so that his hands locked themselves across chest while avoiding the bow on the angel's back. The angel stiffened as Alfred moved closer to the angel's left ear, the side of his face pressed against the other's soft golden hair. "Well, well, what do we have here? I didn't think it was worth higher angels' time to help such a mundane creature."

"Who are you?" The angel had a voice that was cautious yet had a slightly snooty tone to it. Alfred grinned.

"Just a sweet devil who only wants to play."

Alfred snapped his fingers. The child started to swing higher and higher at a faster rate. Eyes turned to the boy as he screamed, who was no doubt thinking that the swing set was possessed as he swung higher and higher.

"You're putting him in danger!" The angel tried to struggle out of his grip, but Alfred refused to let him go. "Stop this foolishness at once!" Alfred chuckled in reply.

"Why should I? That would ruin everything."

The swing kept on going faster and higher. The child's mother was screaming for help while the boy's father was next to the swing set trying to stop the swing from moving, his futile efforts doing nothing to counter Alfred's magic. The boy gripped onto the sides of the swing like his life depended on it (which it did), but Alfred could see that the he was losing his grip. It would only take a little while longer until the child let go, either to fall to the ground or "fly" into the sky until he fell flat on the ground.

"Let me go, I have to save him!" The angel struggled harder in his arms, but Alfred kept his hold on him. "I demand that you let me go at once!"

"You're running out of time and you try ordering me to let go?" He snorted distractedly. _He's just like him… could he be…?_ "Show me your moves angel, and then let's see if you really deserve your title."

The angel rocketed towards the child the moment Alfred let go. At the same time, the child had lost its grip at the highest point of the swing's velocity. He was suspended in the air for a fraction of a second, and then gravity gripped him, forcing him downwards. Everywhere screams could be heard as the crowd that had gathered around the boy watched as he plummeted.

The angel caught the boy before he hit the ground. The people who had been watching rushed towards him, worried murmurs going 'Is he okay?', 'What happened?', and 'My baby!' Alfred could see the angel crouching on the ground with the now-unconscious boy in his arms. _I wonder how he'll take care of this problem. _To humans, it looked like the boy was floating off the ground, plus they just witnessed a swing going out of control all of a sudden. _After all, humans don't like the supernatural. _He snickered as he watched emerald green magic enveloped the crowd like a fog; when the angel's magic dispersed, a now-confused crowd was left in their wake. As for the angel, he was hovering over the crowd, a satisfied look on his face.

"Well done." The angel whipped his head up to Alfred as he slowly clapped. Excitement coursed through his veins as he recognized the caterpillar eyebrows and more importantly, those wonderful green eyes that were looking at him in disgust. There was no mistaking it now; he had finally found his angel. "I see you managed to save him in the end, although I see that you haven't learned your lesson yet."

The angel narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you don't remember me?" Alfred frowned mockingly. _He doesn't recognize me…_ Irritation flickered in a small part of his head. _I'll have to go jog his memory then. _"Is it the glasses? Or am I getting pudgier? You know, maybe I really _am_ gaining weight if you can't even recognize me…."

"I don't know you." The angel stepped back hesitantly, as if he was unsure of his answer. Alfred's frown changed into a smirk.

"And here I wanted to believe that you had been running on revenge for all these years. How disappointing…" He shook his head before turning his gaze back to the angel again. "But I must say, I hope you don't plan on making it a habit to run into me every time I do something remotely entertaining. It's bothersome, you know…" His smirk grew.

"But when all is said and done, it really doesn't change the fact that you ruined my fun."

That did the trick.

Alfred sidestepped away as the angel attacked him, the other somehow managing to separate his bow into daggers, sheathe one of them in his belt, fly towards Alfred, and attempt to attack him all in the space of a few seconds. The angel turned towards him, unfettered hatred laced in his aura.

"You!" The angel seemed to have barely formed that word. "It's you!"

"Why yes, I believe it is me. Hm, maybe it really _is _the glasses…" Alfred adjusted his glasses while he said this. _I see he's as blunt with his feelings as always. _He smiled as he became more energized, the other's quite obvious hate surrounding him. "Would you like me to remove them?"

The angel didn't answer his question but instead, flew towards him for another attack. This time he aimed for his gut, although Alfred managed to catch his wrist before the dagger could even puncture his clothes.

"How rude. Don't you know that heroes usually let their villains finish their speeches and such?" He tugged the other closer to him until the angel's face was mere inches from his. He also made sure that the angel's dagger hand was pointed away from him, lest he think that he could try to attack him again. "So how have you been, little angel? Still trying to spread joy to the world?"

The angel didn't seem to have heard him. "Let me go!"

"What, so you can 'kill' me?" He scoffed. "I'd like to see you try. You couldn't even fight me before."

"That's because I had no weapons back then." The angel kicked Alfred between the legs, temporarily stunning him. The angel twisted his hand out of Alfred's grip and drove his dagger to Alfred's side; it would have hit him if Alfred hadn't recovered in time to make a small barrier to stop the dagger.

_That was close… Seems like he means business this time. _Alfred looked up to see that the angel was charging up an attack on his left hand. He immediately sent out a weak fireball to the angel's hand, throwing the other off-balance.

"I see you've actually learned how to fight." Alfred jumped back as he talked. "As expected of the one who got rid of so many of my kin. Tell me, how did you manage to do it? I could care less that you're killing them off, but some of them were actually capable. You'd had to have caught them by surprise for them to fall so easily."

"It doesn't matter." The angel unsheathed his other dagger so that he was now dual-wielding both weapons. "All that matters is that you're here, and that I can finally deal you the justice you evaded all those years ago."

"'Justice'? Don't make me laugh." Alfred took up both his daggers as well. "I believe that the word you're looking for is 'revenge'."

Whether the angel was offended by that, Alfred couldn't find out, for the angel had charged towards him after he finished his sentence. The two beings fought, an emerald green blur clashing with ice blue. Alfred parried his blows with his daggers, although he had to admit that his angel was surprisingly fast. _Not many can put up a fight against me…_ Alfred thought as he recollected his past fights. _But maybe I should start taking this battle seriously…_

Alfred pushed the angel away with his daggers when they were locked in a standstill. As the angel tried to recover from the push, Alfred transferred the dagger on his left hand to his right. Without warning, he blasted the angel with otherworldly flames. Caught unawares, the angel was soon engulfed in the flames. _Burn angel, burn._

"Pity." Alfred could hardly contain his irritation when the flames disappeared to reveal an empty spot. Why did he break so soon? "You shouldn't have died from that. That was hardly my strongest attack."

"This would be one of mine."

Alfred turned around quickly to see the angel standing quite a distance behind him. He was standing in an open stance, his two daggers fused together to form the bow and an arrow of light already nocked on it. Before he could react, the angel shot Alfred straight in the chest.

This was hardly the first time Alfred had ever been hit with a light arrow, but this was the first time he had been hit with a properly charged light arrow. For angels, the longer they concentrated their magic into the arrow- an act known as 'charging' the arrow- the stronger the arrow became. For the angel to be able to charge this much power into his arrow in such a short amount of time… Alfred grinned despite the pain exploding in his chest as the arrow blew up into shards. His angel had become deadly indeed.

Alfred focused his energy on his hand as he covered his wound with it, the wound repairing itself with his magic. By the time the wound was healed, the angel had nocked another light arrow and had finished charging it. Thinking fast, Alfred threw one of his daggers at the angel, lacing a good amount of his magic in the dagger to assure that it would hit the angel. Sure enough, the dagger hit the angel right where the arrow had hit Alfred. The angel recoiled back and dropped his bow, the arrow disappearing as the angel's only weapon fell.

"Agh!" Alfred watched the angel double over in pain. He enveloped himself with green light as he slowly pulled the dagger out of him. "What… what did you do to this dagger?"

"I see you can heal yourself." Alfred said conversationally as he flew slowly towards him. "Although it won't do you much good; that dagger is made with the finest iron my kind can use, and seeing as how my magic is within it, I doubt that wound of yours will heal easily."

He came up to the angel, who was covering his wound with one hand and holding Alfred's dagger with the other. Alfred plucked his dagger away from him and inspected the blood on it. "My, it seemed to have pierced inside you quite deeply. Does it hurt?"

The angel was hunched over and clutching his wound with both hands, preventing Alfred from seeing his face. "I refuse to lose to you," the angel said boldly. Alfred chuckled.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you're in any position to tell me that. I can finish you off right here and now, but I won't." Alfred smiled. "Not anytime soon."

"Why not? Why the interest in me? These things… you won't stop, will you? If somehow, I live past today… You'll just find me and do horrible things to me, and then let me loose just to repeat this cycle…" The angel's voice was close to breaking. "Why?"

Alfred feigned pondering over the question. "That's easy!" He leaned down towards him. "It's because I enjoy playing with you too much!"

"Playing?" The light had disappeared around the angel. Alfred was shocked to see that somehow, the wound was completely healed now despite the fact that it had been quite serious. _ What the…?_ "That's what you call it? Ruining me is what you call '_playing'?_"

Without warning, the angel lashed out at Alfred, sending the other flying away. When he managed to get back up again, he realized that he had dropped both his daggers and that his glasses had been knocked away when he had been hit. Alfred bent forward and clutched his stomach, unused to the way his power surged to him all at once.

"Do you realize what you did all those years ago?!" Alfred could barely hear his angel screaming at him, bitterness seeping off the other's every word. "Because of you, I had to keep a secret that did nothing but get me in trouble! Every day, people would ask me the same questions, and I could never answer them! Why? Because if I ever told them, I would be banished for sure!" The angel's voice kept on rising. "All these years, I've been isolated more than I have ever been before, and I can't even tell the people that care why! All these years I spent training until I felt like puking, but I could never stop! Why? Because it was all so that I could find you! And this was all because you marked me!"

Alfred looked up to see the angel blanketed in light. He had his arms close together, as if he was charging a beam. His voice came out low the next time he spoke. "There's only one way to stop being marked, and I plan to take it."

The angel released a beam of light. Alfred charged at the same instant, blanketing himself in his magic as he flew straight towards the beam. He faintly felt the exterior of his magic clashing with the angel's, but he kept on going, parting the beam in two as he kept on flying towards the angel. Power from the angel's animosity towards him kept pumping into him, and Alfred couldn't help but laugh at how the angel was unknowingly powering him up with his hate. He cracked a wide smile as he zeroed in on the angel, who was looking at him in plain disbelief as well as utter horror.

"How pointless." Alfred grinned maniacally as he grabbed both of the angel's hands and lifted it over the other's head. "If you wanted me to remove my glasses, you should have just said so instead of removing them yourself."

"Why should I care about your glasses?!"

"I don't know, but I'm sure it would have been useful for you to have known that it was what limited my power." His grin widened as the angel's eyes grew bigger in horrific realization. He felt the other slacken in his grip, like a broken doll. _No. _Alfred narrowed his eyes._ You can't be broken yet._

When Alfred shook him, he looked up at him with such an intense look of fear that he just wanted to eat him up right then and there. "What's the matter, scared?" He grinned. "After all, you'll get no sympathy from me."

"Do your worst, fiend!" He was pleased to see that the angel still had fighting spirit in him. The angel tried to kick him, but Alfred managed to retaliate by binding the other's legs- and for good measure, his hands- together with his magic. Alfred leaned down towards the angel's face until their noses were touching.

"I plan to."

He tilted his head so that he could kiss the other. The familiar feeling of pleasure consumed him, although this time it felt much stronger than it had been before. While Alfred had been merely intoxicated the last time they kissed, this time he felt as if he was drunk with ecstasy. It was too much yet too little at the same time, and Alfred yearned to do more with him.

Suddenly the angel pulled back, separating the two of them and breaking the kiss. "What did you have to do that for?" Alfred growled. The angel didn't look at him; instead, he was looking past his shoulders.

"They're coming." Alfred looked back to see a horde of white wings in the distance. "They must have seen me lose control of my power a while ago, or maybe they saw yours. Either way, they're coming." He glared at Alfred, although Alfred couldn't help but notice that the angel's face was red. "You'll be surrounded."

"Not on my watch." Reluctantly, Alfred removed his grip of the other, retracting his magic so that the angel was free. "Again, unwanted company seems to be coming our way. I wonder, must all our meetings be like this?" He sighed as he opened a portal. _I used up more power than necessary with this battle. _As much as he hated to flee, he had to get away. "At any rate, it seems that I must go."

"Hey wait a minute! You're not going anywhe-" The angel froze as Alfred turned back to him with a death glare.

"I believe that I am," he spoke his words slowly, his power emitting off of them. He had learned from his brother's friend how to Charmspeak, although he usually abstained from using it. Seems like he had to now. "You will let me go and you will continue to find me." The angel paused, trying to fight his influence until finally, he nodded his head shakily. Alfred would have left then, but something flickered inside him when he looked at the angel. _What is this feeling…?_

"Find happiness, little angel." This time, he didn't use Charmspeak. "Stop being so bitter. You may hate what I have done to you, but you grew up to be a formidable angel, one that could even hold his own against me. That in itself is spectacular…" Alfred didn't know why he was praising the angel, but it felt right. "So stop being bitter and find happiness… just don't find another partner. After all…" He smirked at the other. "You belong to me, remember?"

Alfred flew through the portal.

'''''''

"You're in an awfully good mood today."

Alfred chuckled as he turned to his brother. They were in their bedroom, obsidian walls surrounding them like a prison. Two twin-sized canopy beds stood side-by-side at the right side of the room. Alfred's bed was decked in dark blue, his brother's in royal purple. A chandelier in the center of the ceiling lit up the room, the flames bathing the room in its crimson glory.

"Do I really? I didn't notice." Alfred shrugged as he put back on a spare pair of glasses, feeling more comfortable now that his powers were contained. "Tell me brother, in what ways do I seem like I'm in a good mood?"

His brother scowled as he looked up at Alfred. Matthew was sitting on his bed, his stuffed black bear beside him. The other had violet shoulder-length wavy hair, a long stray curly piece of hair coming off from the right side of his head. His eyes took on a more royal purple hue, and like Alfred, he also wore glasses. Today he wore a heavy white winter coat that was zipped up all the way, white pants and dark boots finishing the look. "Well for one thing, you've been smirking ever since you came back. It's not often that I see you smiling."

"It's because I'm around you all day that I don't smile," he teased, but became serious a second later. "How was your mission?"

"Heh, those weaklings never stood a chance." Matthew's eyes flashed with a faint look of blood lust. "You'd think messenger angels would be much stronger than they appear, but they're as weak as the rest of their kind. They're not even that smart too." His eyes became darker. "But then some angels found us fighting and I was forced to abandon the angel before I could even finish him off. So annoying, those patrol angels…"

"Focus Matt, I need the details." Matthew scowled again.

"And here I thought your good mood would last… Anyways, I managed to get some vital info before I had to leave." He reached for his coat pocket. "Turns out you're more of a threat to the angels than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Matthew took out a sheaf of papers.

"It's needlessly lengthy, but it basically says that your havoc in both the Middle and Overworld is worrying the angels."

"Tell me something I don't know Matt, I hate having my time wasted." Alfred leaned back on the wall and crossed his arms. "I'm not surprised they're worried about me, but seeing as this is important, I take it that they're planning to take action against me?"

"As always, you are correct." He rolled his eyes before looking back at him again. "Tell me, how did your mission go? Did you find the higher angel that was lurking around there?"

"I let him go." Matthew blinked a little before standing up.

"Al, what do you mean you let him go?" Matthew was quivering with suppressed rage. "You mean you didn't get rid of him, even though you were _explicitly _told to do so? Tell me, just to what extent do you enjoy disregarding the rules? We may be devils, but even we have rules to follow!"

_I wouldn't keep disregarding the rules if the devils would just leave me alone already. _"Calm down Matthew, it's my mission, so I get to choose how it turns out." Alfred didn't flinch as the other flew towards him and lifted him up by his neck.

"'Calm down'? Al, sooner or later the greater devils will punish you for your actions. Take what happened a few years ago as an example!" Matthew tightened his grip on the other, but not enough to choke him. "You were _supposed_ to be betrothed to a devil the greater devils approved of, but then you ran off to the Middleworld and even worse, allegedly marked some stranger without telling us who they were!"

"It's not 'alleged' if it's true." Alfred sighed and pushed Matthew away using his magic. "Matt, I could care less if the greater devils banish me from the Underworld because of what I do. Actually, I wouldn't mind that at all since it would give me more freedom, but you and I both know that they need me too much for them to actually do so. They've spent too much time on me to suddenly give me up because of my 'stupidity'." He tried to hide the bitterness in his voice as he spoke. "And you really shouldn't push your luck little brother; you may be the only one in the Underworld that can address me in such terms, but even I have my limits." While he didn't mind it when his angel stood up against him, when Matthew did it, it was to remind him of who the devils wanted him to be.

"Tsk, you're just some brat with power." Nevertheless, Matthew seemed to have calmed down. "Were you attacked?"

"Yes, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I had to leave though, once other angels were attracted to the scene." Alfred rubbed his neck. "Even though I could take all of them on, they caught me in a rather bad time."

"Just what time did they catch you in that you couldn't kill them all? That's your whole life right there… Oh well, as long as you're safe, I suppose. A weapon that malfunctioned once is better than no weapon at all." Matthew shrugged again as flew back to his previous spot and picked up the papers he had dropped. He didn't notice Alfred flare behind him, but when he looked back at him, the anger was hidden away. "At any rate, it seems that they're taking special measures against you and are planning to assign a higher angel to get rid of you."

"A higher angel, eh?" Alfred's mind wandered back to a certain angel, but he forced himself to pay attention. "There are plenty of those. I'm sure that this one will end up being some piece of small fry with a fancy title."

"It seems like this one's actually competent." Matthew pulled out a piece of paper from the pile. "Or at least, that's what it says down here…"

"'Rank: Higher Angel. Status: Son of the one known as 'The Great Warrior'. Notes: Has three older brothers, all of which are also higher angels, and a younger one that shows promise. Is also shown to have a companion in what can only be described as a 'flying mint bunny'. Part of the minority who refrains to have a partner, although unlike the others, the reason why is unspecified; despite this, the angel is qualified for the job and has been pardoned from his mistake. Other: Graduated school as the valedictorian and has been confirmed to be a Celestial Rank Archer, an S Rank at close quarters combat, and has an Adept Master Rank at magic.'"

"Yawn." Alfred frowned. "Whoever this higher angel is sounds like the rest of them with a different family. More than half of the higher angels can do what this one can." Matthew held up a hand to quiet him.

"'Is also stated to have the rare ability of being able to sense where a devil will use their magic against humans in a sense akin to that of a premonition. Said skill can also tell how strong the devil in question is.'" He looked up at Alfred. "Do you know what this means Al?"

Alfred's eyes darkened. "It means that the higher angel knows where we'll attack humans and can take measures against us ahead of time before we even know it." He tensed. With a skill such as that, not only could the angel prevent the devils from troubling the humans, they could also ambush the devils and finish them off with attacks appropriate to their power level. Use it right, and this angel could be more powerful than even Alfred. "How advanced is this skill?"

"While it does give the angels that advantage, it says here that the angel still doesn't know how to tell when exactly in the future the attack will happen nor can they discern if their actions can or cannot affect the attack."

"So basically, it could be years or months before the devil actually does its work at the place where the angel senses it will be and that the angel has no way of knowing if it being there can change things, or even better, if it being there is _why_ the attack happened in the first place." Alfred relaxed. "Well, it certainly seems like this angel is a tad bit special, but I doubt exterminating it would be too much of a problem."

"You should be careful nonetheless; apparently, the angel is unusually talented at combat as well, so tie that in with that gift and it could be trouble for us." Matthew kept looking through the papers. "Here, there's a picture of the angel somewhere among these papers, so I'll go find it so you'll know what they look like…"

Alfred snickered. "Come on Matt, I doubt I need to-" Matthew held up the picture.

"His name is Arthur Kirkland."

Alfred froze as he took in the details of the picture in front of him. His heart sped up rapidly as he was greeted with the familiar sight of golden hair and a toga that covered the chest. More importantly, he recognized the angel's green eyes and too-thick eyebrows.

This was his angel.

"Al?" Alfred turned his head slowly towards his brother. "Are you okay? Well anyways, the greater devils probably don't want you to be distracted with this nuisance, so do you want me to get rid of hi-?"

_"No."_ Matthew's eyes widened at Alfred's possessive growl. "That angel is _mine_, Matthew, and make sure that the greater devils and lesser demons alike know that nobody is to even _touch_ him but me."

"Al… Are you alright?" Matthew placed away the picture. "You seem really off… Do you happen to know this angel? To see you treat another being like this when you treat others like toys…" He narrowed his eyes. "Of what importance is this angel to you?"

Alfred broke into a feral grin. "Well, well, it seems that we can skip the 'meet the parents' part at the very least."

"What are you…?" Matthew's eyes widened. "You didn't."

"Why yes, yes I did." Alfred became giddy when he saw how furious Matthew was with him. For a devil such as him to mark an angel… and coincidentally, to have marked the higher angel that was supposed to kill him at that… Such things were unheard of and went against everything the devils lived by; there was no doubt in Alfred's mind that this would infuriate the greater devils once they heard about it… _But that was what made it glorious._ "I even ran into him today. Evidently, he was the higher angel you tipped me to find. How cool is that?"

"And you didn't finish him off?!"

"Of course not, he's mine. He means much more to me alive." He grinned as he looked at his brother's incredulous face. "After all, I plan to keep this little game of cat and mouse running for as long as possible."

He walked forward and plucked the picture of his angel- who he now knew was named Arthur- from the sheaf of papers. Alfred looked at the picture and smiled.

Let the game begin.

* * *

_Kudos to anyone who gets my references. Wow, first Foe Yay fic I've ever written, as well as my first Same Scene, Different Perspective fic. I've always wanted to do one of those and I've always wanted to write a Devil/Angel fic, so win-win eh? I apologize for putting you guys through my horrendous action scenes, I'm still working on them (if you happen to know how to use any of these weapons well and if I made a mistake in how they were portrayed, feel free to tell me)._

_Well anyways, if you liked this story, I highly recommend that you read its partner "The Hunter and His Prey". At any rate, happy Valentine's Day and I hope you have a great day!_


End file.
